FAQ

The development of the IFS is based on the ever-rising demands of consumers, the increasing liabilities of retailers and wholesalers, the increasing legal requirements and the globalisation of product supplies. All of these points made it essential to develop a uniform quality assurance and food safety standard. The members of the German retail federation – Hauptverband des Deutschen Einzelhandels (HDE), – of its French counterpart – Fédération des entreprises du Commerce et de la Distribution (FCD) and of its Italian counterparts COOP, CONAD, Federdistribuzione – have drawn up a quality and food safety standard for retailer (and wholesaler) branded food products, which is intended to enable the assessment of suppliers’ food safety and quality systems, in accordance with a uniform approach. This IFS Food applies to all the post-farm gate stages of food processing. Retailers from Austria, Poland, Spain and Switzerland also support IFS as their food safety standard.

The basic objectives of the IFS Food standard are:

• to establish a common standard with a uniform evaluation system,
• to work with accredited certification bodies and well-qualified and approved auditors,
• to ensure comparability and transparency throughout the entire supply chain,
• to reduce costs and time for both suppliers and retailers,
• Efficient and secure process for choosing the right supplier(s), especially for private label products as well as choosing the right service provider(s), 
• Secure (non) food safety and quality assessment of the supplier(s) and  the production process,
• Safe retailer, wholesaler, industry or food services branded products,
• Liability coverage,

Since its establishment in 2003, IFS has been developed into an internationally accepted standard. More than 11,000 IFS Food audits and 800 IFS Logistics audits were conducted in over 96 countries in 2010, and this dynamic growth is continuing. The number of IFS audits increased by 9% in the first eight months of 2011, compared with the same period of the previous year.

All retailers (and wholesalers) who take part in the HDE Committee for Food Law and Quality Assurance, in the FCD Quality Committee and in the Federdistribuzione Quality Committee, as well as COOP and CONAD support the IFS and demand an IFS certification from their suppliers. Retailers who belong to these committees are e.g. Metro Group, Edeka, Rewe Group, Aldi, Lidl, Auchan, Carrefour Group, EMC - Groupe Casino, Leclerc, Monoprix, Picard Surgelés, Provera (Cora and Supermarchés Match), Système U, COOP, CONAD and Unes. All of these retailers participated in the redaction of IFS version 5. In addition, further retailers in other European countries, like Spain, Poland, Austria and Switzerland support the IFS too.

The IFS Food is since 2003 benchmarked, as one of the first standards, against the criterias of the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative). Today 350 retailers in total and nine out of ten of the largest European food retailers, as well as Wal-Mart and many other retailers worldwide, use IFS as their food-safety standard which illustrates the strong global acceptance of IFS.

With about 17000 certificates, 20 languages and 800 auditors the IFS is one of the largest food safety and quality standards worldwide.

At the same time as including all users in the decision-makingprocess, IFS is pressing ahead with its international expansion. In addition to the locations in Berlin, Paris, Milan and St. Louis in the USA, the IFS is also represented by offices in Warsaw in Poland, in Hefei in hina and in Dourados in Brazil. Moreover, what have been up to now four geographically structured working groups for supporting the standards in Germany, France, Italy, and the USA will now be extended with the creation of a further working group in Spain.

The list of approved IFS certification bodies is available on the website under "certification bodies". They are present worldwide and can provide IFS audits internationally as they have IFS approved auditors for all common languages (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish etc.).

At present, every manufacturer of retailer (or wholesaler) branded food products, who is working with the afore-mentioned retailers (and wholesalers), is affected by IFS audits. IFS is generally applicable for the whole food supply chain excluding the pre-farm-sector.

The IFS is divided into four main parts: - Part 1: audit protocol (scoring of the audit, audit duration, different steps from the audit until the issue of the certificate, etc.) - Part 2: technical requirements. The check-list contains 250 requirements, which deal with five main subjects: o Senior management responsibility o Quality management system o Resource management o Production process o Measurements, analyses, improvements - Part 3: requirements for accreditation bodies, certification bodies and auditors - Part 4: reporting (layout of audit report, certificate, etc.)

IFS provides all information through a database which is available via the website www.ifs-certification.com. Each IFS certificate, IFS audit report and the action plan is stored in a secure area. Only the IFS registered retailers, the IFS certification bodies and the IFS certified food companies have access to the secured area.

The website www.ifs-certification.com offers the following options to interested parties: - general information about IFS, - list of all accredited IFS certification bodies including their regional offices in Europe and world wide, - online shop to order the different standards of IFS, - online contact form for the IFS offices in Berlin and Paris.

The secured database of the audit portal contains: - the list of audited companies / branches, - the audit scores, reports and action plans of the audited companies / branches.

Each passed audit report with an IFS certificate is included in the online database. Only the name and the address of the audited company / branch are published directly. The audited company can choose independently to make further details of its audit available to customers (retailers, wholesalers). Otherwise this information is strictly confidential.

All IFS audit reports and action plans have the same structure, whatever the country of auditing. This is possible thanks to common requirements laid down in the IFS, Part 4, and to the software AuditXpress, which allow certification bodies to create automatically harmonized audit reports and action plans.

All retailers who recognise and use the IFS can have access to the database. In order to obtain access they have to contact the IFS offices. IFS certified food companies are automatically granted access to the database when their audit data are uploaded into the database by the certification bodies.

There are several advantages for IFS certified companies to use the IFS auditportal. First of all, they can manage their IFS audit report and IFS action plan. The certification body is responsible for uploading all data of the audit including the audit report and action plan. The companies can provide these documents to their customers (e.g. retailers): with only one “click” they can make it available for them.

On the other hand they can upload additional certificates of other standards like Organic, QS, KAT, BRC, SQF etc. that they have received and want to show to their customers who use the IFS database. All their certificates are available on one view. Furthermore, they can search in the IFS Database. They see every company which is audited against the IFS but not their whole IFS audit report and action plan: they can for instance check if their suppliers are IFS certified.

Finally, they can download the original IFS audit file to use it as a benchmark for their internal audit if they use the IFS-Software “Auditxpress for internal audits”.

Yes, all retailers of HDE and FCD have also developed the IFS Logistic (for transport, storage and distribution). New projects are in development, such as IFS for Household and Personal Care or IFS for Cash&Carry.

All IFS standards are developed at the request of retailers.

IFS has developed the software “Auditxpress for Internal Audits” to perform internal audits based on IFS. The software tool gives additional remarks on how to implement the IFS requirements in the company. This software further provides the whole IFS checklist and a tool to analyse the audit results. It gives the company a quick response on its status. The software also provides a tool to add further specific requirements of the company to the global checklist and gives the company the flexibility to prepare its internal audit checklist beyond the IFS requirements.

The IFS certification bodies already use this software to analyse the original IFS audits. The company can download the original IFS audit file of its last audit from the database and can use it as a benchmark for its internal audits. Thus, it makes its internal audits most efficient for its daily work. If the company wants to use this possibility please ask the certification body to provide the original IFS audit file in the IFS database. Of course, the company can only read, but not change this file.

The software is available at the IFS online shop at and is available in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Certification bodies shall have an EN 45011 accreditation for the certification against IFS. When they comply with these requirements, the certification bodies can be listed and made available for interested parties. After accreditation of the certification bodies, they shall sign a collaboration contract with the IFS owners. Further requirements which have to be fulfilled by interested certification bodies are described in Part 3 of the IFS Food version 5.

Part 3 of the standard specifies in detail the requirements for IFS auditors. Fundamental requirements for auditors are: - audit experience (at least 10 audits during the last 2 years), - effective knowledge of the HACCP principles, - qualification in quality management, - the auditors can only audit in line with their competence in a certain product scope (at least 2 years’ professional experience in the specific scope or at least 10 audits in this scope), - they shall pass a written and oral examination.

Finally, auditors who comply with these requirements shall only work for one IFS certification body accredited for the certification against IFS.

IFS is the only food safety standard which approves auditors through a written and oral examination. Each auditor has to take this examination every two or four years depending on their last results. Through this examination process IFS ensures that only qualified auditors conduct IFS Audits.

The first steps are:

1. Decide which standard is more suitable for the company (IFS Food or IFS Logistic)

2. Order the most recent version of the standard

3. Evaluate the current status (by the company)

4. Select the certification body (quotation, decision and signature of contract)

5. Determine the audit date, the audit times and the audit scope

6. Voluntary: pre-audit to get the status quo

7. Realise the on-site audit at the determined audit date by an auditor competent for the respective product category

To define the amount of time necessary for the audit, the certification body has to ensure that sufficient time is taken for the audit. Experience has shown that the average audit time is about one and a half days in the company / branch and half a day for report redaction.

The IFS standards are available in the most common languages and can be downloaded for free at the IFS website. The price for the printed version amounts to 24,00 EUR plus shipping and handling.

An up-to-date list of all available languages is available at "Documents/ Downloads". If you want to order an IFS standard please use the online shop.

Some retailers who support IFS may recognise other GFSI standards, but they trust IFS certificates more since they are deeply involved in the redaction of the standard and in the auditor qualification.

Yes, all retailers of HDE and FCD have also developed the IFS Logistic (for transport, storage and distribution). New projects are in development, such as IFS for Household and Personal Care or IFS for Cash&Carry.

All IFS standards are developed at the request of retailers.